Greatest voices of our time #3: Brian Kennedy

It's very likely that you've heard Brian Kennedy's unique voice without realizing it's actually him - he does the lead vocals on Secret Garden's original version of You Raise Me Up, as well as the follow-up hit Always There. If you still can't remember where you've seen the charming young man with the thick Northern Irish accent, he was actually representing Ireland in Eurovision Song Contest in May. Curious to find out more about him I searched the Internet and found out that he is indeed a multi-talent.

His biography is one big merit list: He's toured with Van Morrison and performed with Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles, he's released several hugely successful albums, written two novels, presented shows both on TV and radio, and performed as a lead singer in Riverdance on Broadway. The list goes on. Still, I have to say that possessing a voice of Brian's calibre must be a merit in itself.

As to reportoire it seems he can tackle almost anything - everything from beautiful ballads and traditional Irish songs, to upbeat pop tracks and folk rock influenced material.

WHY LISTEN TO BRIAN?

Q Magazine wrote about him that he had"a voice to charm the angels" and it is a very fitting describtion. Part of what makes it so unique is that whatever song he's singing, there is a sort of kindness and warmth in his voice as if he's singing to a little child. His soaring falsetto/head voice is perhaps most characteristic for his sound.

RECOMMENDED TRACKS:

Turn To Me, Won't You Take Me Home, So What If It Rains, The Town I Loved So Well

A new trend

I've long been fascinated with the growing trend of classical crossover artists - opera singers/operatic artists marketed as pop stars, all of them recording more or less the same songs. However the concept is beginning to grow old and I've started to notice another trend in the classical crossover field - choir boys (and in some cases girls) marketed as little angels, with a reportoire ranging from hymns to enya-like renditions of pop ballads. The result is squeaky clean, often very predictable, recorded with the reverb on 100% and dripping with candy floss sweetness.

My first encounter with this genre was through Aled Jones, because he recorded a lot of tracks in collaboration with a group of choir boys called Libera. I got their best of collection out of curiosity and I was fascinated by the genre itself. Because of the clearly exaggerated reverb effect, the songs seem like some kind of spiritual background sound for a church scene in a TV series. The focus is not so much on the voices in itself, as the spiritual meaning behind the sound as a whole - it's evidently supposed to sound like some distant, heavenly angel choir.

The "new age choir boy" genre also includes the trio that simply call themselves "The Choir Boys". The only remarkable difference between them and Libera is that they are fewer - the sound is pretty much the same. However it seems like imagewise, these young men are more marketed like pop teenagers instead of like angels.

And then we have Angelis - 3 boys and 3 girls, also giving the impression of being sqeaky clean pre-teen pop idols. The fascinating part is that they sound like the younger siblings of Amici Forever - it's just like the people who made a pre-teen copy of S Club 7 decided to make a pre-teen copy of Amici too.

Their sound and image seems like a desperate attempt to squeeze this genre even further - I am curious to see how far it will go before this trend too starts to fade due to lack of originality. There are only so many versions of Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu one can take.

Josh Groban: Awake

Finally! After three years I can sit down and write a (hopefully) objective review of Josh Groban's third studio album. It's been an amazing ride to follow this man's career since his first release and so much has changed since then, personally and musically.

When his debut album came out he was marketed as the classical crossover geek; he has later revealed that the producers wanted him to do just classical and operatic songs, much like Bocelli. The sophomore album Closer that came out in 2003 showed us a little more of Josh's growing independence as an artist. This time around, with Awake, his songwriting skills, musicianship, and growth as a singer unfolds like a flower before our eyes, or should I say ears.

In the past I've let out my frustrations and concern about Josh changing his style too much and leaving the musical genre that made me fall in love with his music in the first place. I've realised though that in my mind I've always looked upon him as a classical singer - maybe I shouldn't have. As I listened to this album for the very first time I tried to erase all previous ideas I had of him and instead just let the music speak to me, and that made it so much easier for me to write this review(I still can't figure out what genre to put him into though, then again, maybe he doesn't need one. ).

There is no doubt that even though the musical sound has changed, Josh still has his famous voice intact, and he's not afraid of using it. He shows it off on powerful tracks like L'ultima Notte, Un Dia Llegara and Un Giorno Per Noi, the latter actually a song from Romeo and Juliet. Had the whole album consisted of songs like these, the overall result would have been a little too much, but there are also quiet, simple gems like February Song, which Josh himself wrote, and Awake, the title track which is actually only available on the limited edition.

In addition to that, he also includes world music influences, jazz AND electronica. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the choir that accompanied Paul Simon on his Graceland album from 1986, feature on two tracks, and Herbie Hancock joins Josh on Machine, an energetic explosion of a song.

It's overall a great album, although at first it seems like there's too many musical genres gathered in one place. Personally I don't mind, and since I've been a Grobanite for almost 5 years now I can see why he'd want to include a "what the hell was that?" song like Machine. He mentions "stepping out of his comfort zone" and maybe it was about time.

Odd Nordstoga - Heim te mor (full album)

First of all, sorry about neglecting this blog for some time.. I'll do my best to keep up.

Now: Down to the business.
I bought Odd Nordstoga's album the day it was released, my expectations sky-high after great newspaper reviews and overall positive publicity. And he didn't let me down this time either.

The 11 tracks range from traditional American folk to Norwegian folk to pop ballads, all "branded" with Odd's unmistakable personal style. Whereas a lot of reviews tend to focus on his happy, carefree and upbeat songs, I feel the need to look at the singer/songwriter ballad gems that can be found on the album. Such as "Dagane" - written for his wife - where the theme is the genuine and enduring love, and vocally he showcases a soaring falsetto which I personally had never heard before. "Det som varer" and "Vandrevise" are also great ballads that deserve some attention on the album - The up-beat title track is of course undeniably catchy and so is "Femten songar på ei gong", but I think the slower songs display more of his songwriting skills.

As a whole, the album is well worth the money and - you are warned - highly addictive.

Greatest voices of our time #2: Josh Groban

Josh Groban (photo: Alice Quade)

Of course I had to include him, even though I’ve mentioned him a lot already and everyone must know by now that I’m a huge fan - a grobanite. I realised though that I’ve never written any straight to the point- text recommending his music, only the juvenile, giddy "OMG you have to listen to this guy" sort of message on discussion boards.

Better late than never.

Josh has always been said to have a voice that doesn’t match his age, in the sense that people didn’t expect that big a voice to come from the mouth of a barely 6 feet tall, slender, baby faced self proclaimed geek. So it’s suprising when he reveals in interviews that he didn’t start singing seriously until he was 16 - which means that he'd only been singing for 4 years when he was discovered by the famous producer who was to become his mentor, David Foster. With the help from David and another handful of producers, engineers and songwriters, Josh released his self entitled debut album in November 2001. It was, as David Foster mentioned later in an interview with AOL, probably the album that first introduced the new classical crossover genre to the market; many artists has followed in that same direction since. In the 5 years that have passed since the debut, Josh has released 2 live DVDs and one studio album, plus another studio album that will be released worldwide on November 7. His fan club now has close to 20 000 members, he has his own charity foundation that his fans help raise money for by arranging online auctions, he is showered with gifts wherever he gives concerts - everything from intern joke items like toy llamas and pixie sticks, to "chick magnet" t-shirts and football sweaters. The whole grobanite thing may seem intimidating to outside people, so I’ll focus on what started the whole circus in the first place - his voice.

True, it has been critizised by vocal coaches and opera experts and one can analyse it and break it up into pieces and point out flaws, but as a whole, the unique sound in his voice and his ability to communicate emotions through his singing is impressive. He can sing songs in Italian or Spanish or any other language and though most people won’t understand the words, they still believe in the story he’s telling through his voice. Many people have even found that his voice has a healing effect, both psychologically speaking and as pain management therapy.

WHY LISTEN TO JOSH?
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, he can adapt his voice to fit into several genres, which of course shows his versatility as a vocalist - but to describe his voice in general I would say it’s smooth, has a rich tone and a nice, natural vibrato (which unfortunately becomes a little too rapid when he’s nervous, performing live). I must admit I find it hard to describe it with words since my ears have grown so accustomed to it.

RECOMMENDED TRACKS: The new single You are loved, Gira con me, Per te, Mi mancherai, To where you are

Greatest voices of our time #1: Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl. (Photo: Martin Pichl)


I thought I’d create a kind of "greatest voices of our time" series in this blog: Those who know me are aware of my passion for discovering and listening to really great voices, whether it be in pop or classical music…. (or somewhere in between)

Who better to start with, than Andreas Scholl?

You may have heard his voice somewhere and thought it was a woman singing – he’s a countertenor, which means his voice is in the highest vocal pitch for men and pretty much equals a female alto voice in range. Andreas was born in Kiedrich im Rheingau in Germany in 1967, and to say he grew up in a musical family would be an understatement; both his parents are choir singers, his sister Elisabeth is a soprano, his brother Johannes is a doctor but has a singing career on the side, and his late sister Christine was said to be a talented contralto. He joined the local choir at age 7. His voice broke fairly early, at 13, but he kept on singing soprano or alto in the choir. It wasn’t until he was 17 that a vocal coach told him that he could actually have a countertenor voice.

Since he started pursuing his singing career in 1993 he has released a number of albums, played in a couple of operas, like Händels "Giulio Cesare", teached masterclasses at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, written some material of his own (more in the pop genre, but also for ballet and theatre), and of course performed on stage numerous times in oratorio works and solo recitals.

WHY LISTEN TO ANDREAS?
His voice has a smooth, rich tone which immediately grabs your attention. It has only a light vibrato, as one can hear especially on the baroque arias, and he shows off complete control and impressive technique.

RECOMMENDED TRACKS:
Where’er you walk, I will give my love an apple, How sweet the moonlight, Va ’per le vene il sangue

Today's spur of the moment purchase

This may seem hypocritical since I've already stated my opinion on Il Divo but today I bought a CD by the group with the catchy name "The ten tenors." I immediately thought of the Irish Tenors, whose choice of reportoire I can't stand, but from the cover photo they seemed a bit more mainstream than that. After a quick look at the tracklist, which included versions of several songs I quite like, I decided to risk it.

Fortunately, their sound isn't as heavy and quite as sentimental as that of Il Divo. It doesn't sound like a competition of who can sing the loudest - quite the contrary actually, as some "solo" parts of the songs are sung by two or three of them in unison. This, among other things, makes them sound more like a men's choir than a group (as the name states, there are after all ten of them.) Their individual voices aren't that grand and impressive, but they're all reasonably good pop/musical vocalists and not trying to be something that they're not. And they're not acting like they think they're God's gift to women.

It's true that some tracks are a little over the top, but it's more pleasing to the ear because it's the orchestra that turns up the volume, while the vocals aren't quite as loud. The songs are in general arranged more like pop songs/ballads than operatic songs. A suprising gem is their rendition of "Les Choristes", or "Vois Sur Ton Chemin" as it was called in the French Oscar nominated film - they've actually turned it into an up-tempo pop track and though the idea sounds intimidating, the result is refreshingly catchy.
Another surprisingly good cover is "Who wants to live forever", one of Sarah Brightman’s biggest hits. There’s not much of Sarah Brightman left in this version, and that pleased me.

Conclusion – today’s spur of the moment purchase was, fortunately, well worth the money.

Joshua Bell - Voice of the Violin

I often find myself lost of words when trying to describe or evaluate classical music - as I don't play any instrument and just started listening to classical music a year ago I really have no knowledge to build the so-called review upon. I don't have a trained ear in that regard.

Which is why Voice of the Violin is the perfect album for people like me.

All the 15 tracks are vocal works transcribed for the violin; most of them very well known. The idea behind the recording is to let the violin "sing" where the lead soprano/tenor voice should have been. The result is surprisingly refreshing and elegant - it's of course lighter than many of the violin concertos he's recorded earlier, and has already been placed in the same category as his earlier "Romance of the Violin" recording, but it doesn't cross over the dangerously fine line that separates the romantic from the schmaltzy. (That having been said, the cover photo suggests otherwise. It looks like someone went overboard with the "diffuse glow" effect in Photoshop. That alone would be enough to scare the experienced classical audience off.)

The biggest surprise about listening to the album is discovering how close the sound of the violin actually IS to the human voice - and that you don't find it frustrating to hear the music without the words. In the liner notes, Joshua also reveals that he made an effort to think and even breathe like a singer during the recording - it is actually audible in most of the tracks and gives the music some kind of special intimacy and authenticity.

The only "disappointment" in the pieces he's chosen would have to be "Ave Maria" - I wish he would have picked a different version than Schubert's, which has been done so many times it's become a chestnut. "Song to the Moon" is my personal favourite and "Una Furtiva Lagrima" is also a gem. I suspect Joshua will "convert" yet another generation of fans with this release.

Don't give up!

Because Josh Groban says You Are Loved. (photo: Warner)

The single was made available for streaming on the fanclub site today (and on AOL first listen) and I, along with thousands of fellow Grobanites, threw myself over the link and waited anxiously for the file to load. You've all read my worried ramblings about what Josh would or would not sound like on the forthcoming album; what direction he would take musically. I'm not worried any longer, if anything a little surprised, in a positive sense.

"You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" is definitely not an operatic song, probably not even deserving of the crossover label. It's a sort of power ballad, where a lot of the power comes from Josh's golden larynx - he shows off his wide vocal range by reaching way down on the low notes and then, the minute after, soaring high with his beautiful falsetto. These 4 and half minutes of vocal brilliance are built up around moving, yet positive lyrics, about knowing you're worth something in this world and that someone will always be there to pick you up if you should fall. A topic that seems to be balancing on a fine line between cheesy mush and sincere sweetness, but with a voice like his, Josh can pull it off. The listener believes in him from the first note - "Don't give up/It's just the weight of the world/When your heart's heavy/I will lift it for you" - seemingly standard phrases, but expressed oh so convincingly.

If you were first drawn to Josh Groban's voice through the operatic tracks of his debut album and is half expecting him to start belting out arias on his upcoming release, I must disappoint you. Josh is not an opera singer, though he may want to move towards that genre later, and for the time being he seems comfortable expanding the meaning of the term pop music as we know it. The result, which we'll be able to hear November 7 (already available for pre-order at Amazon), may annoy classical purists and delight chart-pop listening teens, but one can at least not argue with the fact that Josh Groban has a God-given voice.

You can listen to the song here: http://music.aol.com/franchise/firstlisten

finally: new music from Odd Nordstoga

It's true! The single "Heim te mor" is taken from his forthcoming album (the title hasn't been announced yet but the release date is October 18) and has much of the same ingredients as his smash hit "Kveldssong for deg og meg" from 2004: A feel-good beat, a catchy chorus that gets stuck in your head after two listenings, a bit odd (pun intended!) combination of instruments - accordeon, banjo, harmonica and guitar - and a guaranteed singalong potential.
Another thing the song (in my opinion) has in common with his last hit is also, however, the immediate feeling of "what the heck was that!?" after the first listening. When your ears are "trained" to listen to more melancholy or classically oriented music it takes a few minutes to adjust to hearing this kind of songs - After five hearings though I have to say that personally I have a little problem with the presence of the tuba in this latest recording; to me it gives a little too much German polka feeling to the song. That's why I love it so much when Odd breaks into sudden cries of "yee-haw!" - that brings it back to Texas again...

I won't have to tell you that Odd Nordstoga's musical sound is unique. You'd think that would make his music difficult for everyone to grasp, but it seems that almost all people, regardless of age and sex, embrace his happy little tunes and down to earth lyrics. He has sort of become a Norwegian national hero. If you think the description of his genre was a little vague, why don't you go and listen to the song yourself:
http://www.universalmusic.no/les_mer.asp?newsid=3604

Opera Babes - how desperate can you get?

I bought their first album online, thinking that it'd be straight up my alley and a new addition to the classical crossover genre... I never listened to it much. Today I checked out their latest release "Renaissance" and I can't believe why I even bought the first one.

Just the name would be sufficient to make any classical music purist shake his head in disbelief. It seems like they've failed to see that young classical musicians and singers can achieve popularity within their own age groups BASED ON THEIR TALENT - and instead they find it necessary to flaunt their bodies and pose like dance pop stars. If I'd seen the cover photo without the titles I'd have thought it was Paola & Chiara's new album.

As the classical crossover genre exploded a few years ago, things like this were considered new, fresh, exciting, something that made classical music available for younger people and even teens who normally listened to mainstream chart music. The trend was started, I think, by Josh Groban, and then other singers with more classical reportoire followed - Hayley Westenra, Amici Forever, Katherine Jenkins. The concept in itself is not a bad idea and it did work - I'm an example of that - but it has to end somewhere. What we see now is perfectly able classical singers selling themselves short by desperately trying to reach a younger audience and putting on a sexy image.

Opera Babes is the perfect example of that. The beautiful Flower Duet from Lakmé in R'n'B remix? Lloyd Webber's famous Pie Jesu transformed into some scmaltzy New Age lullaby? Secret Garden's Nocturne arranged like something from a relaxation technique CD? The annoying aspect of it is not really that they're willing to go to such lengths to achieve popularity - that's merely hilarious - but the fact that they could actually do so much better. They have the voices, they can tackle arias, why don't they? New star sopranos like Anna Netrebko and Magdalena Kozena prove that you can be popular and hip and modern in classical music and still be true to the art.

ALB - Lupus Island

A while back, traditional Norwegian folk music meant old men playing the accordion and old women singing in strange dialects. Not anymore. The traditional Norwegian music scene of today consists of promising young talents who want to take folk music to a new level - which is exactly what ALB has done.

ALB is short for Andreas Ljones Band - Andreas has already had great success with the group Majorstuen, who mix traditional Norwegian folk music with classical and give new life to old tunes. In making this album he seems to have thought "why not go even further?". The music is new and fresh and a wonderful, though unlikely combination of traditional folk, rock and electronica. Andreas himself plays the fiddle and various flutes, the rest of the band (Rune Tylden, Andreas Bratlie, Lasse Weeden) handle sampling, programming, synth, bass, drums and percussions. He seems to have taken a new direction imagewise too judging by his promo photos; from the clean-cut image of Majorstuen to something that looks like Rothbart in Swan Lake - Heavily styled hair, eyes smeared with eyeliner and locked in a mysterious, intense gaze.

I wish there was a more accurate way to describe ALB's unique sound but it's hard to explain. It has to be heard to be understood.

Links to buy the album can be found on ALB's web site: http://www.andreasljones.com/musikk.html

Another recommendation

I can't have a music blog and recommend artists without mentioning CHEEZY KEYS. They're extremely talented, versatile and decent guys (which I can account for, having met them) Cheezy Keys are, from left to right: Anders Kjepperud (basso), Morten Bergheim (tenor), Kjærand Moe (baritone), Hans Petter Moen (tenor) and Kim A. Hagen (tenor/countertenor). They met during a production of Grease at Chat Noir, Oslo in 1999 and startet singing together in between rehearsals. Since then they've featured in other show productions, written and performed their own show, performed at numerous TV shows, guest starred in films, and contributed to the national Eurovision final three times - twice as contestants and once as responsible for the intermission entertainment.

It's hard to put Cheezy Keys into a specific genre. They bounce from showing off technical brilliance in acapella performances, to dancing wildly over the stage in drag - and often combining the two concepts of classically oriented singing and humour: In a show they did a sketch about supermarket clichees and the beeping from the tills suddenly transformed into the intro of Schubert's Ave Maria.

Maybe it's not so strange after all, because in a way they were all connected to the classical world before they met. Kjærand was an educated classical musician, Anders and Kim sang together in St Halvard boys choir when they were kids, Hans Petter has studied musical theatre in London and also studied ballet for a year or so. An earlier member of Cheezy Keys, Mads, is also into dancing and has been doing some choreographing after he left the group.

In the program for their latest show "Finn Fem Feil" they explain their unusual reportoire like this:
"[..] All we know is that music and humour make things look brighter, [...] and that's why we want to give you these two things tonight, to make you feel like the wonderful person you are. With or without faults."

I for one love the combination and hope they continue to write music and perform shows. Rumour has it that an album's on the way (another to add to the list of must have CDs) so let's cross our fingers :) Cheezy Keys' web site is in Norwegian only, www.cheezykeys.com . To see and hear them sing, check out these links:
Unchained Melody live - http://www.cheezykeys.com/video3.html
Bohemian Rhapsody live - http://www.cheezykeys.com/video4.html

Quiz!

what is this? A) New adverts for Armani suits B) Westlife's new image C) "the 5 hottest men of the year" feature in women's mag

Answer: Neither! The correct answer is, believe it or not, opera singers. Except somewhere along the way, they were "discovered" by pop producers - they recorded some schmaltzy ballads and Italian versions of English pop songs, were sqeezed into expensive suits and marketed as a boyband and a pop hunk. The result - Il Divo (left) and Vittorio Grigolo.

Il Divo have always puzzled me in the sense that I can't believe that 4 men who can actually sing, more or less, have such a constructed image. And then recently I found out that the concept of Il Divo was invented by Simon Cowell, the man behind Pop Idol. They were put together just like Louis Walsh put together Take That and Boyzone - "you're the cute and shy one, you're the ladies' man, you're the dark, mysterious one etc". The biography on their web site describes it as "Il Divo finally came together in December 2003 after a worldwide search with rehearsals and recording sessions taking place immediately after." It goes on to claim how the four members all have different backgrounds, though all of them except the French Sebastien are TRAINED opera singers who have years of stage experience. Carlos has played lead roles in La Traviata, Madame Butterfly and La Boheme. David has toured with several opera companies in Europe and America. Urs has sung oratorios and performed regularly with the National Opera in Holland. (Sebastien is the only self-taught singer, according to his biography, and performing with Il Divo interrupted his work on a pop solo album). Reading about those impressive merits, I have to think "hello!! if these people can actually sing REAL arias from REAL operas, why don't they record a REAL classical album?" It seems to me to be a total waste of talent - just so that Simon Cowell and those people can make even more money.

The story of Vittorio Grigolo isn't much better. He too has an impressive merit list; even more impressive than Il Divo if you ask me, having played in the most famous operas and in addition performed requiems and oratorios and other famous classical vocal pieces. Don Giovanni, La Boheme, Lakmé, Faust, the list goes on and on. He too is put into a designer suit and, in promo shots and EPK videos he is seen strolling the streets of Rome to the sound of romantic string arrangements. In a way his case is more ridiculous than the others because he was introduced to the pop/crossover market so late, and we've seen the same Italian-hunk-posing-in-front-of-ancient-buildings-in-a-designer-suit too many times already - it's a worn out concept.

What makes a classically trained singer want to sing Daniel Bedingfield hits in Italian, or Toni Braxton songs in Spanish? Because their managers and producers wants them to? For the money? For the fame? For the female fans they expect to form fan clubs and show up to every concert on their tour and sit in front row and take pictures? The answer may be "yes" to several of the questions, sadly. I admire artists who dare to sacrifice the tempting promise of fame and fortune, just so they can be true to themselves and their art. People who make music, play and sing not because they want to be rich and famous but because they live and breathe music and can't live life without it.

Jon Christos - Northern Light

It's funny how you can discover new artists. I heard about Jon Christos through Josh Groban's message board - not very outstanding in itself cause I've heard about MANY artists there - but Jon was in fact a Groban fan himself and a frequent poster. His friend Alf, who's been member of the message boards for a while now, let us all know about details regarding Jon's CD release and provided web site links etc. He quickly got his own little fan base of Grobanites who now, in addition to their Grobanite titles also call themselves "Christosians".

Unfortunately I was unable to hear audio samples of his music until recently (a computer error makes me unable to hear audio in Flash, which is used on MySpace sites) but when I did I quickly realised that the board members' praise of Jon's voice was well deserved. I ordered the CD from amazon and it arrived today.

I was not the least disappointed. The 15 tracks range from opera arias to romantic pop ballads to Italian, dramatic crossover songs "Il Divo" style. But there ends the comparison; if Il Divo was junk food, Jon Christos would be a gourmet meal. He sings in English, Italian, Spanish and even Greek, plays the piano - and the violin, though not on this album.

My personal favourites are Immenso Sogno and Jubilate Domum, which should be in the music encyclopedias under "ultimate classical crossover ballads". The opera arias are also very refreshing - he proves that he can tackle opera, in contradiction to a lot of other crossover singers who just don't have the voice for it but are trying to get away with it anyway.

After listening through the CD I also noticed that his voice sounds a little like that of Øystein Wiik, one of Norway's most famous opera singers a few years ago and my hometown's greatest pride. ;)

"Where are they now?"

Recently I've been amused by the fact that almost all of the artists I liked when I was a pre-teen have made comeback albums. Hanson are back, Backstreet Boys are back. Boyzone will get together again. Take That will get together again, however without Robbie Williams. (I'm on a roll, I was not even a Take That fan.) That leaves only one band. The Kelly Family.

I'm always a little embarassed to admit I was once a fan of theirs, even though their song "I can't help myself" was very popular at my school, back in 1996. Die hard fans of Kelly Family weren't exactly considered to be your normal, supportive fan - The Kelly Family became their religion and it was their belief that the youngest member, Angelo, was in fact an angel, because of his long blonde hair and middle name Gabriel. There are even rumours of fans commiting suicide in the belief that they'd get to "Kelly Heaven".

My interest in the quirky family didn't go beyond the fact that 1)I liked their music and 2) I thought Paddy was "kinda cute". I had 4 of their albums I think until I stopped being a Kelly fan and donated them to a charity jumble sale.

But as all the other artists I was a fan of started to release music again I started to wonder.. Where are they now? Thinking that whatever they were doing, Germany would know about it (as the Kelly Family were huge there in their glory days), I started browsing amazon.de. Lo and behold! this is what I found out:

John Kelly, one of the older brothers, released an album in collaboration with soprano Maite Itoiz, who is also his wife. The album title "Tales from the secret forest" sounds like a fairytale, and the music itself, based on amazon's 30 sec samples, sounds like a mix of fairytale, new age, irish folk and rock opera. To my ears this doesn't sound like a pop album per se, because the fairytale like tracks and simple melodies make it sound so much like a musical or disney movie or something of the sort. But the music, whatever you may call it, is in its way charming and I find to my astonishment that John is one of the few Kelly members who actually had a pleasant voice.

Angelo, the youngest brother whom I already mentioned, has also gone solo and just released his first album, "I'm ready". Though judging from the music samples, I don't think he was. The songs in itself aren't half bad; something that would fit into the "adult contemporary pop" category, but Angelo's voice doesn't really match. The lyrics don't really match either; awkwardly phrased religious statements. Lines like "I pray to God for you/for myself as well" and titles like "Child of God" don't really appeal to me. I'm surprised to find that Angelo actually will visit Oslo on his umpcoming tour.

Paddy went solo 3 years ago as he released the album "In Exile" which features the hit single "Pray pray pray". (I even saw the video on Norwegian TV while flipping through channels) . He's shaven off his trademark long hair and seems more comfortable in a leather jacket than any of the hippie-inspired stuff he wore in Kelly Family's glory days.
His album partly has the same faults as Angelo's CD; songs that don't match his voice and lyrics that express religious beliefs in such a charismatic style that it scares people off rather than making them listen to the message. Other than that I'm almost ashamed to say that several tracks on the album are actually quite good, though again, Paddy's voice doesn't really compliment them.

Kathy, one of the older siblings, appears to have recorded several solo albums the last few years and has even released a "best of" compilation. In the albums she sings both English and Spanish songs, and I think the latter suits her voice best. It suddenly dawns on me why her voice seemed so strained and even shrill on some Kelly Family songs; it's a voice that seems to be trained for traditional Spanish singing and not really suited for pop - and certainly not the spiritual, grand ballads she tries to tackle on her album "Morning of my life".

The other Kelly Family members seem to have stayed in the band and released several albums, both studio and live recordings. The most recent one, "Homerun" from 2004 surprised me in the sense that they have traveled somewhat from the original Kelly sound. Maybe we should be thankful for that, then again maybe not - do we really need to hear the Kelly clan, with their not-so-big voices try to tackle jazz and soul? I'll say to their defense though that a change of image was indeed wise at this stage.

Zachary Provost - Heart of the Moment (EP)

This brilliant EP was released a while ago but I just recently bought it as it was made available in iTunes in Norway. I had already heard Zachary's previous release "Alive" and I admit my expectations were high - and the "pianosunshineman" as he calls himself on his message board didn't let me down. The EP is a refreshing little handful of piano based pop that displays both great lyrics as well as beautiful melodies - Three brand new studio tracks, one live track and a string remix of a song from the previous EP. His sound can be described as similar to Vienna Teng and Corinne May.

When I discovered Zachary's music it was because a fellow Josh Groban fan had recommended it to me - Zach played piano, did backing vocals and was musical director on Josh's tour. I was hooked instantly. I get the impression that not that many people are familiar with Zachary's music, despite good reviews in music magazines and online. Maybe it's because he's released two EP's and not yet a full album - I don't know. But if you like good music I suggest you check him out. http://www.myspace.com/zacharyprovost

I've stooped low.....

This image alone makes you able to know what I'm talking about in a fraction of a second.
Idol, or Pop Idol as the original UK concept was called, has been exported to many countries and is thought to be the most successful TV concept ever. The whole thing was created by Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell (the dreaded judge of the competition in both US and UK series), and the first UK season attracted 11 million viewers, according to http://www.tv.com .

In Norway, the 4th season of the show was completed in May as 18 year old Alexander Denstad With sang himself to victory in a sold-out Oslo Spektrum. The last 12 shows had less viewers than the year before and caused ridiculously little attention compared to the first season in 2003. Music journalists say they'll be surprised if the concept of Idol will "live" for another season in Norway.

I have to agree. I bought the DVD of the first 2003 season yesterday (hence the title of the post), just to be able to take a trip down memory lane. The Idol series has been worn out during the last two years and the only season which still stands, fresh and exciting, is the original one - no one had ever heard of it before and even though some people thought "oh it's just some talent show thingy" it seemed completely new and people were instantly hooked. As was I; as the show started in January 2003 I had not yet turned 17.

And there IS another reason for my thinking that the orginal season is the best one.

Kurt Nilsen.

He was the plumber with a music career on the side and played in a rock band called Fenrik Lane. He didn't exactly look like a pop idol - his teeth, or rather the gap between them, became his trademark and he was neither tall or dark. I think Simon Cowell put it best as he commented Kurt's performance in World Idol later that year - "You look like a hobbit, but you sing like an angel".
He came into the audition room in Bergen and sang one of his own songs in front of the judges, who weren't instantly impressed. Ole Evenrude was 'famous' for telling Kurt "You're no pop idol, you belong in a rock band."

But Kurt surprised them all. He grew to become everyone's favourite, with his charming personality and most of all, God-given voice. His soaring falsettos made the audience go wild.
In an April show, Ole Evenrude said "it's April, and I can already tell you're the winner of this whole thing".

And so he did. As the icing on the cake he also won the World Idol competition - an international contest with Idol winners from selected countries. American Kelly Clarkson was the favourite to win, but Kurt once again surprised everyone and with his flawless rendition of U2's "Beautiful Day", he won the whole thing - again.

Today he has three successful releases behind him; one being a live album from a collaboration project with Espen Lind, Alejandro Fuentes and Askil Holm. In June they performed in front of thousands of fans during a free concert in Oslo town square.

So 3 years after he won the title of the Norwegian pop Idol, Kurt Nilsen is still on everyone's lips and selling albums in record-breaking amounts - the mentioned live album sold 40 000 copies in just three days.

But what happened to the other idol winners?

(Picture: The Idol winners - Kurt Nilsen [2003], Kjartan Salvesen [2004], Jorun Stiansen [2005], and Aleksander Denstad With [2006], all captured in the moment of victory.)

Kjartan Salvesen was the Idol winner of 2004. The official Idol single, "Standing Tall", was of course a summer hit that year, but the album release was a flop. During his tour, a concert had to be cancelled due to lack of interest - only 17 tickets had been sold. Today Kjartan seems to have taken a break from the music business and is instead enjoying parenthood along with his girlfriend, Inger Terese Austad.

Jorun Stiansen was so surprised that she'd won the 2005 competition that she was unable to sing the Idol single at the end of the show. Little did she know she was setting the trend for a large part of her tour - she was overworked, got infection after infection, lost her voice and had to cancel numerous shows. The single release was a total flop; it was a rewritten version of Lara Fabian's "The last goodbye", called "This is the night". The album turned out to be an even bigger disaster. Today Jorun is working on starting all over again, changing her lifestyle and writing her own songs.

Aleksander Denstad With won against all odds in May 2006. His rival Jonas Tomassen was voted the ultimate favourite in every online poll. Aleksander's Idol single "A little too perfect" is getting a lot of radio play and today Aleksander is busy touring with a few other ex-Idol contestants, driving 10-11 year old girls giddy.

Only time will tell if Aleksander suffers the same destiny as Kjartan and Jorun, but in the meantime I just have to hand it to Kurt. He is the Pop Idol, in every sense of the word.

Russell Watson - what not to sing?

(Picture: Russell Watson - looking smart, but what about his voice? Photo by Decca/Simon Fowler)

Russell Watson's voice has always puzzled me and I've never made up my mind as to whether I like him or not. Today I listened to Rolando Villazon's rendition of "Amor Ti Vieta" and compared it to Russell's version. Whereas Rolando's vocals emerge from his mouth like soft velvet, Russell sounds like he's in agony - of course not very pleasant to listen to. He also seems to breathe heavily (and audibly!) through his nose in between lines - a minor detail maybe but as I first noticed it it started to drive me crazy.

And here's the thing. Russell Watson is in possession of at least 4 different voices. When he uses all of those 4 voices on and off during a 4 minute song, it gets annoying. As an example I will use the title track off his latest studio album, "Amore Musica". It starts off beautifully with his soft pop voice. Then as he moves on to the first chorus he adds a bit more volume and suddenly his voice seems more edgy and like it's coming from the back of his throat - before it changes back to the soft pop voice when he is in the MIDDLE of a note. This is where I start to wonder "what voice will you end up using on this song?" As the second chorus apporaches he changes into his opera voice, which to me sounds very strained and with a forced vibrato - really belting out the melodies. The contrast between this loud and strained voice, and his soft pop voice is so huge that it sounds like it's a duet with two singers whose voices don't match.
His 4th voice can be heard on earlier tracks such as his famous "Faith of the heart" - the Star Trek Enterprise theme. It's a raspy pop/rock voice that sounds very mainstream and ordinary, though not unpleasant to listen to.

Why can't he decide which voice to use? Can't he do like most singers and merely adapt his voice to sing different genres, not create a totally different voice for each one? Personally I'd advice him to stay away from the arias for a while - when he so openly admits he does not have the classical training of an opera singer, maybe he shouldn't try so hard to be one. His "first" voice which is so wonderfully soothing to the ear would be sufficient to keep his fan base happy and even increase it.

I know I may seem offensive describing Russell Watson's voice like this (UK classical singer Jon Christos even told me I came down too hard on Josh Groban after I analyzed his voice to pieces..) but it's only my personal opinion and I mean no harm. I'll say to his defence that he does have a talent, though in pop music rather than classical, and seems like a sympathetic, nice guy.

Josh Groban's new album nearly finished!

(Picture: Josh Groban waving hello from Glen Ballard's studio in one of his recent video messages. Screencap by Rachel)

Yesterday afternoon this message was posted on Josh Groban's fanclub forum:

We are close to finishing the album. News coming soon.
Hope everyone is well.
Brian

("Brian" being Brian Avnet, Josh's manager.)
So the release of a new studio album is only a few months away! His last studio album was released 3 years ago - time flies - and judging by his own "updates-from-the-studio" video messages, it will be very different from "Closer" and probably miles away from his self titled debut album. All 3 of the song titles that have been announced so far are in English - "Weeping" feauturing Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "Lullaby", with music by Josh and lyrics by Dave Matthews, and "I'll wait for you", also written by Josh. He worked on these songs with Glen Ballard, who produced "Believe" from the Polar Express Soundtrack. In addition to that we know that he's been in the studio with Deep Forest in France (confirmed by Deep Forest's web site), and he was possibly going to collaborate with Joshua Bell on a track - since it worked so well on the last album... however I don't know if that really happened or if it was just a rumour or wishful thinking...;)

Grobanites on both of Josh's boards have witnessed me going crazy about this upcoming release - both in a negative and positive sense. Positive because it's been 3 years since Josh's last release and it will be interesting to hear what direction he's taking now. Negative because it's been 3 years since Josh's last release and it will be interesting to hear what direction he's taking now.

Let me explain...

It's always fun when your favourite artist releases a new CD, with the promo craziness that goes along with it; articles and reviews in every newspaper, talkshow appearances, radio play, posters in every music store.. then a new tour to follow.
But lately I've started to be insecure about what direction Josh is taking musically. When I first heard him I fell in love with his soft, operatic voice - however I was mostly into pop music at the time and didn't like the songs on his album that were, in my opinion, too "classical". It's been 4 years and 6 months since I bought his CD - I was 17 years old - and a lot has changed since then. I'm sure Josh has too.

"Closer" was different from the debut album both in the sense of his voice, which he pushed higher to sound like a tenor and at the same time adjusted to singing pop songs, and the music itself which was more pop-sounding and less operatic. Some fans found this disturbing, other again found it refreshing. I liked most of the songs but was not particularly pleased about the direction I felt his voice was heading in. That's what I'm concerned about with this next album.

And in the meantime I've grown increasingly interested in classical artists, not only in instrumental music like Joshua Bell but also vocally with singers like Rolando Villazon, Kiri Te Kanawa, etc. I'm afraid I've turned into a self-proclaimed culture snob; I'd rather see Swan Lake at the Opera house instead of going to a pop/rock concert at Rockefeller music hall.

The big question for me is.. will I like Josh's new album at all? Will I hate it? Will I be disappointed? Will I be indifferent? According to Josh I'll have to wait until October to find out.

recommendation: Aled Jones

If you happen to live in the UK you probably think I'm joking - I've been told he has a very conservative image and comes across as the sort of artist only your granny would like. Since the peak of his musical career was before his voice broke (and he's 35 now), most of his fans must be adults who remember him from "back then". He's released a lot of albums during his musical career, which he put on hold when his voice broke at 16 - and then made a comeback a few years ago. In addition to singing he also has a career in TV/Radio, and even has his own radio show on BBC Wales.

But now to the reason of my recommendation - THE VOICE.

When I first listened to his voice at amazon.co.uk, as I was browsing the classical section, I thought, "they have to be kidding me. this isn't classical". The light voice with a lack of vibrato didn't match the image I had in my mind of a Bryn Terfel-like operatic tenor. But there was still something that appealed to me. At the time I had just discovered allofmp3.com and I searched for his CDs there just to check and to my astonishment they did have two of his albums - I bought one straight away and the other a couple of weeks later.
If I were to describe his voice I'd say it's very soft and soothing. For some, myself included, it may take some time getting used to, but after that you'll find yourself bewitched by it.

If you have anti-religious views or anything of the sort, you may want to skip to the next post though. Most of Aled's songs, at least the recordings he released as an adult, are hymns or other songs with sacral/religious background. That may be hard to swallow for some but as a Catholic and deeply religious person I find his songs inspiring. Check out his official web site http://www.aledjones.co.uk , and hear samples/buy tracks at http://music.allofmp3.com/mp3/Aled_Jones/group_13636/albref_14/mcatalog.shtml

I can't decide!

I can't decide whether I should like, dislike or be indifferent to this album.
I bought it from allofmp3.com after I'd heard some positive reviews by online friends.
It is, undeniably, pleasant to listen to - a mixture of traditional Irish music and a certain modern twist - but on the other hand the album as a whole seems too sweet for my taste.
Maybe my ears have been spoiled from listening to too many big voices.. cause although the vocalists of Celtic Woman can carry a tune I find myself getting annoyed by their breathy (just like Charlotte Church only her voice is/was remarkably stronger) , thin soprano voices. Which makes this album alarmingly near of falling into the Sissel (Kyrkjebø) category - Too sweet, too gentle, too uncomplicated.

The instrumental tracks are actually the most appealing. One of them was even recorded live which gives a great atmosphere. The only thing is that this one track, along with The Butterfly, seem too much separated from the other 16 (!) songs on the CD - as my iPod started playing this track I thought it'd skipped to another playlist and that it didn't belong on the album.

I think my ears need more time with this album before I'm able to make a verdict..

A new direction..

I was introduced to Kane Alexander's voice through Josh Groban's message board. As I went to check out his web site I thought he'd sound something like Josh, and I scanned through the tracklist to find that a lot of the songs were in Italian, some translations of English pop songs. (something that's become popular among classical crossover artists - Vittorio Grigolo recorded operatic versions of Keane's "Bedshaped" and even Daniel Bedingfield's "If you're not the one", and Il Divo included a Spanish version of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak my heart" on their album.)
Nella Fantasia was also included; it seems EVERY new classical singer records that song.

Then I hit the play button on the media player.

This is no classical crossover singer per se. I've heard classically trained tenors sing pop songs, or people with classically sounding voices sing pop songs, but I've never heard pop singers, whose mother tongue is English, sing Italian pop songs. Is Italian just very in now? So much so that producers find artists who have nothing like a classical voice, dig up some Italian pop songs, make them sing with a vibrato and pretend it's the real thing?

His web site claims the album is a "mesmerising collection of classical, pop, jazz and Latin music that is both unique and truly epic." So they're not labeling his album as classical or classical crossover. Further down on his biography page he states that "I'm a classically trained singer - I don't claim to be an opera singer!" I would never mistake him for one, I just can't help but think that if he should do pop anyway, why does it have to be in Italian - does he have any particular reason? Therefore I'm tempted to think that his team wants to market him as a classically trained, Italian looking, mysterious, romantic hunk. As I went through his photo gallery to find a photo to post I had to give up - in all the pictures Kane was posing ridiculously and trying very hard to be sexy.

I will say to Mr Alexander's defence though that for a pop voice he doesn't do that bad. It has a pleasant vibrato and would sound good in a musical theatre production. A little similar to the voice of Swedish Peter Jöback. Let's just hope Kane Alexander doesn't adopt Peter's songs on his next album.

Joshua Bell - Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

I first discovered Joshua Bell when he featured on Josh Groban's album Closer. I was less interested in classical music then but later as I started to discover the world of classical music I started listening more and more to him. I was lucky enough to hear him perform this piece live as he visited Oslo in May, as part of OsloPhil's program.

When you hear, and even more when you see, Joshua Bell play you get instantly carried away - he plays with such passion and intensity. In the liner notes it's mentioned that Tchakovsky's violin concerto has been recorded so many times by so many performers that new artists won't record it. Maybe I'm lucky to be a newcomer in the classical world and not have heard any other recordings before, all I know is this piece gives me goosebumps from beginning to end. Or especially end I should say; I love the dramatic grand finales that bursts of energy. To top it all off, the concerto was recorded live and it lends a certain atmosphere to the recording. The thunderous applause and calls of "bravo!" after the finale makes a great finish.

The CD also includes a Meditation, which, as written in the liner notes, was composed as an alternate middle movement. This was an interesting idea, I think, allowing the listener to hear two versions of the same concert on one CD.

The last track on the CD is Danse Russe from Swan Lake, a piece that's right up my alley since I'm a ballet fan an practiacally grew up listening to Swan Lake and the Nut Cracker. The dance is not included in the Swan Lake Suite, which has been released numerous times along with the ballet suites from Sleeping Beauty and the Nut Cracker - so I didn't know it as well as I know other pieces from that ballet. Which I think it's a good thing.

This CD is a must-have if you ask me.